Officials are probing how a 51-year-old highway bridge came to collapse in the Italian port city of Genoa yesterday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 16 others as it sent dozens of vehicles tumbling into a heap of concrete and twisted steel.

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"I confirm there are negotiations underway for the purchase of my 50 per cent share in Blackcourt, as I now reside overseas and am working on a new, almost as hard, challenge - writing my first book for Penguin," the release read.

"I am proud to have played a part in the team's great victory on Sunday and expect the club to go from strength to strength in coming years."

Blackcourt is the company which Holmes a Court co-owns with Crowe in the South Sydney Football Club, with South Sydney members owning the remaining 25 per cent, together with a preference share which controls the team's name, colours, jersey and home ground choice.

Packer has been linked with a possible buyout of Holmes a Court's stake in Souths for nearly a year. His casino-based interest Crown Resorts is the club's major sponsor.

The combination of Australia's richest man and Australia's best-know celebrity has the potential to turn the Rabbitohs into a national sporting giant rivalling AFL club Collingwood.

The Magpies boast over 80,000 members, well ahead of the Rabbitohs' 30,000.

But the Rabbitohs v Canterbury decider was the highest-rating grand final in rugby league history, out-rating the AFL decider between Sydney and Hawthorn in an indication of the untapped interest in the NRL.

Souths' title victory was their first since 1971 and the club is expected to make a profit of over $1 million for the second successive year.

However the club is still carrying a significant debt after losses totalling around $10 million in each of Crowe's and Holmes a Court's opening two years in charge at Redfern.